DTN Closing Livestock Comment 07/20 16:51

DTN Closing Livestock Comment 07/20 16:51 Cattle Futures Once Again Fail to Find Brakes After churning on both sides of unchanged for most of the session, cattle paper closed substantially lower in late selling. Lean hog futures settled mixed with nearbys lower and deferred mostly higher. By John Harrington DTN Livestock Analyst GENERAL COMMENTS: Light-to-moderate cash business developed in feedlot country at midday with the best test evident in the South. Kansas and Texas sold live cattle at $115, $2 lower than last week. Activity in the North was more uneven in terms of volume with dressed deals marked at mostly $185, $2 lower than last week. According to the closing report, the national hog base is $0.56 lower compared with the Prior Day settlement ($65.00-$72.25, weighted average $71.20). Corn futures opened higher but closed lower with nearby contracts off nearly 4 cents when the dust finally settled. December slid to a new contract low despite soaring midsummer temperatures. Equities closed higher with the Dow ending at a record high for the seventh day in a row. The Dow settled 36 points higher with the Nasdaq better by 53.